Sherlock Holmes, Hamlet, Richard III: Add Mr. Bean to the list and Benedict Cumberbatch will have successfully played all of the greatest characters British literature has to offer. The 12 Years a Slave actor has been announced as the lead in a new BBC Two adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III directed by The Royal Court Theatre's Dominic Cooke, hopefully to be followed by a turn in Macbeth, Julius Caesar and, oh let's say, Othello.

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